A deep conviction of the Church's duty to carry on, through strictly ecclesiastical agencies, the work of for- eign missions, had led the Synod of Pittsburgh, as early as 1831, to organize itself for this purpose as the West- ern Foreign Missionary Society. The New School had refused to consummate the desires and plans of the Old, by taking this enterprise under the care of the whole Church; but the Assembly of 1837 accepted the trust, establishing in New York City the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions. By the Assembly of 1838 a Board of Publication was appointed, to which were transferred the property and business of the Presbyterian Tract and Sabbath-school Book Society, organized by the Synod of Philadelphia a few years before. The Assembly of 1839, the fiftieth year having now been completed since this supreme judicatory had first convened, recommend- ed the second Sabbath of December for a semi-centenary celebration, a day of jubilee and thanksgiving for past mercies, and the offering at that time, by all the mem- bers of the Church, of gifts for the endowment of the new board. The fund raised reached the sum of $40,000. This sum, with about $28,000 donated for building pur- poses a few years later, has been the nucleus of all that board's permanent property. Before the division, two boards had been organized— the Board of Missions, now of Domestic Missions, for the home work, in 1816 ; and, in 1819, the Board of Education, to aid candidates for the ministry ; both located in Philadelphia. These had been fostered by the Old School, while, as a party, the New School had preferred the American Home Mission- ary Society and the American Education Society, vol- untary associations, in which Congregationalists partici- pated. The Board of Missions had, in 1844, the business of church extension or church erection added to its other operations. This was carried on by a special committee, which, ten years afterwards, for greater ef- fect, was enlarged. But in 1855 an independent com- mittee of church extension was established at St. Louis, the name of which was changed, in 18G0, to that of the
PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES 530 PRESBYTERIAN CHURCHES
Board ofCburcb Building, then tlic Board of Church Extension. Two other departments of Christian liber- ality and effort have been committed to similar agencies. For more than a century and a half the Presbyterian Church has systematically raised funds for the relief of disabled ministers and their families. But in 1849 the General Assembly ordered collections for this purpose to be disbursed by the Board of Publication, a business transferred in 1852 to its own trustees; ami in 1861 a secretary was appointed to devote his time mainly t<» this enterprise, which has Bince inure prosperously ad- vanced. In 1864, the condition of the freedmen at the Smith demanding immediate attention, two committees — one in Philadelphia, the other in Indianapolis— were appointed to take charge of educational and general evan- gelistic work among this class; and the next year, in place of the two, a single committee on freedmen was established and Located at Pittsburgh. Various arrange- ments and changes have been made to secure to the boards the advantage of periodical publications to dis- seminate intelligence of their work through the church- es. The latest accounts show a circulation of 16,000 copies of the Monthly Record; nearly 100,000 of the Sabbath-School Visitor of the Month; and 3500 of the pamphlet, with .almost 52,000 of the newspaper edition. both monthly, of the Foreign Missionary; besides many thousands of the several yearly reports and of various occasional issues. From about 1849 the project of a weekly religious paper, like the Methodist Advocate, was pressed upon the Assembly for several years suc- cessively, but without effect Vet the Church has al- ways acknowledged the unspeakable importance of re- ligious papers, many of which have been established by private enterprise.
The several departments of self-development in the New-School "section at the time of union were as fol- lows: I l.i "The Presbyterian Committee of Home Mis- sion-." It steadily increased in efficiency. Its re- ceipts the first year were $27,244, and the number of its missionaries 19*5. In lKii'.> it had 465 missionaries and an income of $162,421. Its missionaries reported 70 new churches formed during the year: 2400 hope- ful conversions, and -Jl'Jl added to the churches on profession of their faith. The freedmen's department. organized in 1865, received and expended during the
same year about $16,000; and reported 7'.l teachers employed and 20 others under appointment, all in the Southern States. (2.) The "Trustees of the Church Erection Fund." appointed in 1854, were incorporated by the Legislature of the State of New York in the year following. The original basis of their operations was the permanent fund of $100,000, raised by contributions from the churches, most of it in the year 1854, the inter- est to In' employed in promoting the object chiefly \x\ the way of loans. The establishment of i his fund operated as a slion-' bond of union in the Church. In the year L866 the basis was enlarged and an annual contribution and freer disbursements were ordered, since that time this organization has been rapidly growing in impor- tance, and now stands in the very lirsl rank of the evan- gelizing agencies of the Church. In 1869 it reported an increase of $54,996, and of churches aided about 70. c;- Hie " Permanent Committee on Education for the Ministry," organized in 1856, came slowly into oper- ation, moulding its plans gradually and embarrassed by the remains of the old voluntary system. In 1869 it's income amounted to $26,569, and the number of it- beneficiaries to 210 viz., 63 in the theological, 102 in the collegiate, and 45 in the preparatory department (.'•> The "Committee on Doctrinal Tracts," organized in 1852, became the " Presb) terian Publication Commit- tee." in 1869 ii> income from all sources was $66,21 b of which $6851 was expended in its purely benevolent work. (5.) The "Trustees of the Presbyterian House," located in Philadelphia, and incorporated by the Legis- lature of Pennsylvania to care tor a valuable property purchased chiefly by donations made by individuals in